ALMA North American Science Advisory Committee

Contact Information for those calling in.

* Call date: 2017-9-12 4:00 pm EDT or 20:00 UT (Tuesday (Wednesday in Taipei))
  • Duration: 1 hr
    * USA Number: 866-692-3582
    • Passcode: 5862937 #
  • Leaders: K. Oberg, P. Jewell, A. Wootten
  • CV Room: CV-331


  • Attendees:

Agenda

Topics

  1. Old Business
  2. New Business under Discussion.

Discussion Items

  1. Student Observing Support, expanding ALMA userbase, raw data delivery (see attached policy), ALMA Ambassadors
  2. ALMA science key indicators
    • 786 refereed ALMA publications.
    • 1010 post-proprietary project data are available in the ALMA Archive, 313 Cyc3
    • 224 ALMA papers published so far in 2017.
  3. ASAC f2f Meeting. ASAC members contact ksevin@nrao.edu for authorizations, reimbursements
    • New Charge (in addition to standing Charges): The ALMA Board requests the ASAC to address the permanent charges as outlined in its Terms of Reference, as well as the following ad-hoc charge:
      • ASAC to study and define the relative priority for the Communities to have access to raw data.
      • ASAC Terms of Reference (ToR) permanent charges:
        • 2.2.1 The permanent charges are:
          • a) Assessment of the performance of ALMA scientific capabilities: The ASAC shall indicate what information is required from the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO) to perform this assessment.
          • b) Assessment of the technical aspects of the ALMA system performance: The ASAC shall indicate what information is required from the JAO to perform this assessment.
          • c) Assessment of the science outcomes from ALMA: Statistics on publications, citations, press releases, web sites, etc. collected by the Executives shall be collated by the JAO, and analyzed by the ASAC.
          • d) Recommendation of ways to maximize ALMA's scientific impact: This includes review of the scientific effectiveness of the Proposal Review Process after each Proposal cycle.
          • e) Reporting on operational or scientific issues raised by the wider community as communicated by the three regional Science Advisory Committees (ANASAC, ESAC and EASAC).
          • f) Assessment of the scientific impacts of the ALMA Development Program, and particularly of new projects that are proposed.
    • ASAC Report March 2017
    • SC Response to ASAC 28July_2017
  4. NAASC
    • Cycle 4 progress update
    • Cycle 5 begins 1 October. Proposal review results circulated week 24 July.
      • Any comments?
    • Meeting updates:
      • ALMA Board SC response to last ASAC Report--see link above.
      • ASAC Minutes 11 July 2017: ES_notes_July11.txt
      • ASAC 1-2 October 2017, Kyoto
      • Long Baseline Workshop, Kyoto 3-5 October 2017 Abstract Deadline 1 August, registration 1 Sep, hotel rooms asap.
  5. ALMA Development
    • Development update.
      • ALMA Development: A Science Sustainability Program update: NA Report for ASAC
      • Presentations made at URSI GASS Montreal.
      • New NA Project call closed 30 Jan 2017.
        • The Cycle 5 Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 ALMA Development Project program has reached the next stage of the award process. On the basis of reviews by a panel of experts and funding capacity, which was unfortunately limited, several projects were selected to advance for possible Cycle 5 funding in FY2018, pending approval by the ALMA Management Team, ALMA Director, and ALMA Board. Two North America Projects were selected for advancement.
          • A Significant Upgrade to the ALMA Correlator, Principal Investigator (PI) Rich Lacasse (NRAO), co-Investigators Escoffier, Greenberg, Saez, Ojeda, Baudry, Webber. An upgrade to the 64-antenna ALMA correlator is proposed which will: (a) increase the frequency resolution by a factor of eight, providing extended high resolution spectral grasp while providing the increased resolution needed for the lower frequency bands; (b) provide four-bit correlation, improving efficiency and achieving the same sensitivity as currently but in 30% less time; (c) double the processed bandwidth; and (d) provide higher time resolution. Auxiliary upgrades to the archive, receivers, and digital part of the system will also be needed to realize all of these. Together, these improvements make ALMA significantly more efficient at all bands.
          • Lacasse Correlator Upgrade presentation at URSI GASS
          • Prioritization of Correlator modes being incorporated into ALMA Correlator Upgrade: Staging of Science Capabilities
          • Current priority:
            • Increased sensitivity, decreased observing time. 4bit mode, may require higher data rates (but we have an unimplemented 4 bit mode now!).
            • Improved spectral grasp at high spectral resolution. Requires higher data rates, archive expansion.
            • Higher spectral resolution. Can require higher data rates, archive expansion.
            • Broader bandwidth, additional spectral grasp. Requires upgrades to receivers (some capacity now at B6, B9, B10). Requires upgrades to digital path.
            • Higher time resolution. May require higher data rates, archive expansion.
          • Enabling New Science with the ALMA Phasing System (APS) Phase 2, PI Lynn Matthews (MIT), co-Investigators Crew, Fish, Hecht. The objectives of the APP Phase 2 are to further improve APS operations and enable a significantly greater diversity of scientific capabilities with a phased ALMA. Major components of the proposed Phase 2 work include: (a) improving the management of baseband delays in the correlator to enhance sensitivity and simplify data analysis; (b) enabling spectral line Very Long Baseline Interferometry; (c) extending the frequency range where phasing is offered to encompass Bands 1-7; and other enhancements.
      • New NA Studies Call closed 1 May 2017
  6. Press Releases
  7. ALMA Papers (choose ALMA)

Events of Interest

2017
 
 
 
 
 
20-21 Sep 2017
 
EuSAC meeting
Garching
 
 
30 Sep 2017
 
Completion of Cycle 4 Observing
Chajnantor
 
 
1 Oct 2017
 
Start of Cycle 5 observing
Chajnantor
 
 
1-2 Oct 2017
 
ASAC meeting
Kyoto
 
 

See also google calendars:
  1. ALMA Science Meetings

-- AlWootten - 2017-08-08
Topic attachments
I Attachment Action Size Date Who Comment
AEDM_2016-018-O_Rev1_ASAC_REVISED_ToR__(approved)-EDM.pdfpdf AEDM_2016-018-O_Rev1_ASAC_REVISED_ToR__(approved)-EDM.pdf manage 134 K 2017-08-08 - 11:06 AlWootten ASAC Terms of Reference (ToR)
ALMA_Correlator_Upgrade_Science_Staging.pdfpdf ALMA_Correlator_Upgrade_Science_Staging.pdf manage 561 K 2017-09-20 - 12:20 AlWootten ALMA Correlator Upgrade: Staging of Science Capabilities
ASAC_Development_NAupdatev1.pdfpdf ASAC_Development_NAupdatev1.pdf manage 18 MB 2017-09-12 - 15:08 AlWootten ALMA Development: A Science Sustainability Program update
Topic revision: r8 - 2017-09-20, AlWootten
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